Linda Valdez has been writingÂ commentary for The Arizona Republic since 1993. A graduate of the University of Arizona, sheÂ worked at The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson before coming to the Republic.She has won numerous state and national writing awards. In 2011, she won the Scripps Howard Walker Stone Award for editorial writing, andÂ she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003.Â She is author of a book, "A Doctor's Legacy," which tells the life story of Merlin K. "Monte" DuVal, the man who founded Arizona's first medical school at the University of Arizona. She has done commentaries on radio and television in Tucson.Valdez has been married since 1988Â to a wonderful man who immigrated from Mexico.Â They have a beautifulÂ daughter.

Gabrielle Giffords’ shooting remembered with gun buyback in Tucson

The second anniversary of the shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be commemorated with a gun buyback in Tucson tomorrow.

Â The effort was launched by Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, who sent out requests for donationsÂ and raised more than $10,000 in less than two weeks for gift cards to use in the buyback. Â

Hereâ€™s what he says about Tucsonâ€™s response to the anniversary of the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting rampage that killed six and injured 13, including Giffords.

Â ”The citizens of Tucson have stepped up and shown that they aren’t going to be shouted down by the loud voices who are trying to stop this effort. To those who are calling it a stunt I’d simply offer this. In a down economy, and in less than two weeks, the residents of this community have offered up enough to put the Gift Card total at over $10,000 in support of this event. If we want to talk about a stunt having to do with firearms, let’s look back at last year when the Pima County GOP auctioned off a Glock to help fund candidates, and then doubled down on that foolish decision a couple of weeks later when they auctioned off a rifle. Those decisions made by the leadership of the Pima County Republican Party, compared with the response of the community to the buy-back shows how fundamentally out of touch with who we are that the Pima GOP really is. “

Â Kozachik is a Republican â€“ a rare one who will criticize the excesses of his own party. Heâ€™s given Tucson a chance to move in a positive direction on a day the city remembers in sorrow.

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